Bozo Beat — Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart Review

Out of all of PlayStation’s flagship mascots, it seems that none have persevered as much as Ratchet & Clank. The iconic duo have been embarking on one exhilarating adventure after another ever since the glory days of the PlayStation 2. Given that so many other franchises struggle to find an audience, it’s impressive that Insomniac has kept their beloved franchise relevant for almost twenty years. Although, admittedly, I find that the series took a bit of a dip with 2016’s Ratchet & Clank remake, which I thought was quite bland. Consequently, I was both worried and excited leading up to the launch of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, wondering, “Will the game reach the same heights as some of its predecessors, or will it merely be a lifeless shell of a franchise past its time?”, … or something like that. Regardless, I’m happy to say that Rift Apart put my worries to rest, as its interdimensional adventure is one of the series’s best.

Presentation & Performance

Visually speaking, Rift Apart is practically flawless. Every single one of the character designs feel so inspired and distinct, and they’re all brought to life through the expressive and vivid animation. Not to mention, Rift Apart’s planets are almost aggressively alluring through their explosive color palettes and unique themes. Between the dark, claustrophobic, industrial streets of Nefarious City and the green, open, and natural swamps of Sargasso, the world design in Rift Apart is just *chef’s kiss*.

Aside from Returnal and Demon’s Souls, Rift Apart is the only PlayStation 5 game to really scratch my itch for a true next-gen experience. This is mainly due to the game’s nonexistent load times, which are actually implemented as a main mechanic. In a similar fashion to the Portal games, players can walk through portals that take them from one point to another. However, instead of taking the player to a different point in the same room, these portals take the players to entirely different planets and dimensions in complete real time with no loading. To say this is an impressive feat would be an understatement. The fact that the developers were able to translate the PS5’s power and quick loading into interesting gameplay features and mechanics is nothing short of genius. Needless to say, this intense innovation has me extremely excited for this coming generation of video games. Additionally, the already stellar designs of the characters, creatures, and planets are further elevated due to the incredible level of detail and raw graphical fidelity. I’d often find myself marveling at insignificant and obscure details such as the individual hairs making up Ratchet’s fur, or the light scratches and blemishes on Clank’s metallic body. Not only is Rift Apart the best looking Ratchet & Clank game yet, but it’s also one of the best looking video games in general.

Gameplay

As expected with any Ratchet & Clank title, Rift Apart features an extremely diverse array of weapons to wreak havoc with. While most games in the franchise have had extremely outlandish and unique weapons, I actually find that Rift Apart’s arsenal is the best the series has seen so far, and this is for two reasons. One such reason is the sheer variety and zaniness of the weapons. To name a few, the Topiary Sprinkler temporarily turns enemies into shrubs, the Ricochet fires colorful pinballs that repeatedly strike enemies, and the Pixelizer makes enemies look like they’re straight out of a Super Nintendo game. The second reason behind the game’s fantastic arsenal is the PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller, specifically the adaptive triggers. For several guns, pulling the trigger halfway will serve a different function than pulling the trigger all the way. For example, the double-barreled Enforcer fires a single barrel when the trigger is pulled halfway, and fires both barrels when the trigger is fully pulled. Whether it’s increasing the fire rate of the Burst Pistol, or charging up the minigun-like Blackhole Storm, the added trigger functionality provides so much depth and satisfaction to the already fun weapons of Rift Apart.

Unfortunately, the enemies that you face in Rift Apart aren’t as varied as the weapons you use to obliterate them. One of my favorite aspects of past Ratchet and Clank games was the enemy variety. Each planet had their own unique enemies that conformed to the level’s theme. In the first Ratchet & Clank, for example, the forest planet of Eudora featured killer lumberjack robots wielding giant saw blades and axes, and Blackwater City was infested with gelatinous Amoeboids that attracted deadly exterminators. This planet-to-planet variety is far from present in Rift Apart, as the game will merely shuffle between the robotic Nefarious Troopers, the swashbuckling Space Pirates, and the reptilian Goons-4-Less. Although these three enemy categories have respective subcategories to add a little diversity, it grew tiresome facing mostly the same enemies with little to no variation. Not to mention, the game throws the same two or three minibosses at the player multiple times in each level, which gets stale really fast. Additionally, I would have liked to see some more boss fights, as Rift Apart only features around four that I can think of.

The most welcome additions to Rift Apart’s gameplay are the enhanced traversal mechanics. The Hoverboots from A Crack in Time have made a return and allow for satisfying and speedy traversal across the game’s sizable levels. Ratchet also has a new dash/dodge ability that helps flesh out both combat and platforming. In addition to being able to wall run on select platforms, Ratchet can also use his new Rift Tether on nearby portals, instantaneously transporting him from one point to another. All these new additions to Ratchet’s moveset make him even more fun to play as than before. However, I didn’t feel like these mechanics were really pushed to their limits or implemented as much as they could have been. Although there are already a few in the game, I would have liked more challenging platforming sections in which all of the exciting new moves and abilities would have to be executed in conjunction with each other.

Another staple of the Ratchet & Clank series is exploring each of the densely populated and uniquely themed planets. I’m glad to say that Rift Apart not only continues this trend, but expands upon it. Two of the game's planets in particular, Sargasso and Savali, are probably the most expansive the franchise has seen yet. Soaring above the toxic swamps of Sargasso on a pterodactyl-like creature and dashing across the abyss-riddled wasteland of Savali in search of lost audio recordings were extremely liberating experiences. These two large-scale levels exhibit a more open-ended approach to exploration than seen before in the franchise. Of course, this doesn’t mean that the game’s smaller levels are any less exciting. Although more linear, these smaller levels still have branching paths that beg to be explored. I actually think that the narrow and neon-lit Nefarious City is one of the best levels in the entire series. Regardless of scale, most of Rift Apart’s worlds are ripe for exploration. However, although scouring each level for Gold Bolts, Spybots and armor pieces was fun, I would have appreciated more variety, perhaps more side missions and Pocket Dimensions, both of which I really enjoyed. Beyond exploration, the few purely linear levels of the game still proved to be a lot of fun due to interesting and unique environmental mechanics. For example, both the Blizar Prime and Cordelion levels allow the player to travel between two separate dimensions and experience two drastically different versions of the planets.

Story

If there’s one thing the Ratchet & Clank series has in spades, it’s, well, guns … but I already talked about those. So, excluding guns, if there’s one thing the Ratchet & Clank series has in spades, it’s charm. Thankfully, Rift Apart is no exception to this trend. Just about everyone and everything in the game exudes an irresistible sense of charisma, ensuring that I had a dumb grin on my face for almost the entire ride. I’d even find myself chuckling at the snarky insults and taunts thrown at Ratchet by random enemies. One of my personal favorite characters in the game is the destruction-obsessed Zurkon Jr., whose fiery attitude and miniature size won my affection almost instantly; I would give my life to protect little Zurkon Jr., even though he probably wouldn’t need me to. Having said all this, it is worth noting that the wacky, over the top humour present in Rift Apart is a far cry from the more subtle, satirical humour found in the earlier Ratchet & Clank games. While I really like both styles of humour, I can’t help but miss the edginess and critical nature of the original Ratchet & Clank.

As far as Rift Apart’s story and plot are concerned, there’s not a whole lot to write home about. Don’t get me wrong, I actually really enjoyed the game’s story for what it was. However, I can’t say that anything necessarily surprised me, seeing as the game didn’t take any narrative risks; everything was pretty predictable and formulaic. Some may argue that Ratchet & Clank games aren’t exactly the place for narrative risks to be taken. While I can, to an extent, understand that point, I’d present A Crack in Time as a counterargument; I think that game had a really strong story that stands out as the best in the series because it was a little experimental. Again, none of this is to say I didn’t enjoy Rift Apart’s story. I absolutely adore all of the characters present in the game, and I appreciate how the game really doubled down on meaningful dialogue exchanges. Hearing insightful conversations between the titular duo during gameplay sections really helped flesh them out and made them feel more alive than they already were. Not to mention, I loved seeing alternate dimension versions of classic Ratchet & Clank characters. Rivet and Kit are the perfect dimensional counterparts to … well, you know.

Verdict

All in all, despite some minor issues here and there, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is a brilliant evolution of the franchise and hopefully marks the start of a mind-blowing generation of video games. Although I may have wanted a bit more in the story department, I’m glad to say that I finished Rift Apart feeling extremely satisfied, and that’s not something I can say about most games.